People v. Hill

9 Cal.3d 784 (1973) 512 P.2d 317 109 Cal. Rptr. 93 THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

JOSHUA NICHOLAS HILL, Defendant and Appellant.

Docket No. Crim. 14930. Supreme Court of California. In Bank.

July 26, 1973. [785] COUNSEL

Joshua Nicholas Hill, in pro. per., and Donald F. Roeschke, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant.

Evelle J. Younger, Attorney General, William E. James, Assistant Attorney General, and Howard J. Schwab, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

OPINION

THE COURT.

Defendant Joshua Nicholas Hill was convicted of first degree murder, assault with intent to commit murder, and first degree robbery. On the murder count the penalty was fixed at death. The judgment was affirmed. (People v. Hill (1967) 66 Cal.2d 536 [58 Cal. Rptr. 340, 426 P.2d 908].) The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari. Thereafter, under compulsion of Witherspoon v. Illinois (1968) 391 U.S. 510 [20 L.Ed.2d 776, 88 S.Ct. 1770], the judgment was reversed insofar as it imposed the death penalty and affirmed in all other respects. (In re Hill (1969) 71 Cal.2d 997 [80 Cal. Rptr. 537, 458 P.2d 449].) Upon retrial of the penalty issue defendant's punishment was again fixed at death. This appeal is automatic. (Pen. Code, § 1239, subd. (b).)

In People v. Anderson (1972) 6 Cal.3d 628 [100 Cal. Rptr. 152, 493 P.2d 880], we held that the death penalty violated our state constitutional [786] prohibition against cruel or unusual punishments. (Cal. Const., art. I, § 6.)[1] And in Furman v. Georgia (1972) 408 U.S. 238 [33 L.Ed.2d 346, 92 S.Ct. 2726], the United States Supreme Court ruled that imposition of the death penalty in these circumstances contravened the federal Constitution. As defendant's death penalty must therefore be set aside, it is unnecessary to consider the claims of error arising out of his second penalty trial.